AMD K7-550 upgraded to AMD K7-900 - Doesn't work

[JBOswald]

I have a IBM Aptiva 2174-590 which has a Athlon K7 550 Mhz
processor. I tried replacing the processor with a AMD Thunderbird 900 Mhz but when I power up it doesn't get past the Aptiva logo on the screen. Do I need a BIOS upgrade to use the new CPU, or what else might be required?

 

[Dark4ng3l]

If you have a via chipset(after the amd 750 boards) you probably wont be able to run a thunderbird on that board. Get an athlon k75 core "classic"

 

[Athlex]

Most VIA KX133 motherboards have timing issues with the TBird core Athlons. A couple were tweaked later to work like the Asus K7V-T, but your best bet would be with an AMD 751 chipset motherboard.
If that's what your IBM system has in it, a bios upgrade should do the job.
If you're still running into trouble, PM me, I have an Asus K7M that I'm going to sell...

 

[JBOswald]

Can you tell me how to tell if I have the chipset you referenced? I see a AMD-751 label on the board.

 

[JBOswald]

Where would I get ahold of a BIOS upgrade to support the Thunderbird?

 

[CTho9305]

If you see an AMD 751 label, i'd say you prolly have an AMD 751-based mobo

Try the website from whoever made the computer - I dont remember. They usually have BIOS updates

 

[Athlex]

First thing to check would be IBM's support site for that Aptiva. If you see any new BIOS upgrades, get the latest one and flash your board. If that doesn't work, take a good look at the board itself (particularly in between the slots) and see if you can find a manufacturer's name on it. Most OEM PC builders use other companies' boards for their computers. If you can determine what kind of motherboard is in that computer, you might be able to get the current BIOS from the board manufacturer's website.
I used to have a Compaq K6 system which turned out to have a Gigabyte motherboard. I was able to flash the BIOS and get rid of the crippled Compaq BIOS. You may be able to do the same thing with your IBM.

 

[JBOswald]

The motherboard is a Anigma S30 and the BIOS was written by American Megatrends (AMIBIOS).

AMI says that the BIOS will only be supported by the motherboard manufacturer. Anigma is a design shop that custom makes motherboards for IBM (and others). I have the latest IBM BIOS for the machine, however it doesn't understand the AMD Thunderbird processor (Get a message at startup saying " AMD(Unknown) 900" where with the old processor I get a "AMD(K75) 550". So after doing the memory check the BIOS just sits there.

Any way of finding a version that will support the Thunderbird?

 

[Dark4ng3l]

If the mobo manufacturer, IBM, AMIBIOS cant help i dont think anyone can. Your best bet would be to get a 900 classic it will run for sure.

 

[Athlex]

hmm, too bad it's a cutsom board. When I bought my Slot A TBird 800 my K7M detected it as AMD Unknown, but it appeared to work normally. It recognized it properly with a bios flash.

Does the board manufacturer have any bios info on their website?